Wow, GrammarNerd! That is quite an update. No wonder your sister was so sure about who took the food - she had the name and the report from the deli guy.

I think that your sister should request an appointment with the pastor and the person in charge of the auction and lay out her evidence. Different denominations deal with chicanery in different ways. I certainly hope that her church will never let this woman have anything to do with money or finances again. I'm sure that this isn't the first time that she stole, and I doubt that it will be the last.

From the update, it sounds like your sister also dropped the ball by missing the deadline. Even if the deadline was unusual, unexpected and a little short, it sounds like it was still listed with the coupon she picked up. I don't blame her for missing it (I've done similar), but I also don't think anyone is necessarily required to honor an expired coupon/gift certificate - even if she bought it in a charity auction. So if it were me I wouldn't expect the coupon to be honored or the bid to be refunded.

True, and I think this is what TurkeyLady was counting on--that when OP's sister saw the note, she'd realize she missed the "deadline" and give it up as lost. In reality, I don't think there was ever a deadline from the store's end. It was just part of the plan to make it harder for sis to claim it.

I am wondering if the receipt itself had the store deadline ("30 days" or some such) and the sister just looked at the official deadline, not whatever handwritten note from the donor that accompanied it. It's logical to assume the store is going to honor a sale withing THEIR deadline, not some third party's deadline.

OP, I don't think the dinner was 'stolen' like in your title...I think it was flat out stolen.

I am wondering if the receipt itself had the store deadline ("30 days" or some such) and the sister just looked at the official deadline, not whatever handwritten note from the donor that accompanied it. It's logical to assume the store is going to honor a sale withing THEIR deadline, not some third party's deadline.

And a lot of people eat turkey for Christmas too--I also wondered if sis figured she'd use it for the later holiday, rather than the one just a few days away that she likely already had food planned for, until she found TurkeyLady's handwritten note with "deadline."

I am wondering if the receipt itself had the store deadline ("30 days" or some such) and the sister just looked at the official deadline, not whatever handwritten note from the donor that accompanied it. It's logical to assume the store is going to honor a sale withing THEIR deadline, not some third party's deadline.

And a lot of people eat turkey for Christmas too--I also wondered if sis figured she'd use it for the later holiday, rather than the one just a few days away that she likely already had food planned for, until she found TurkeyLady's handwritten note with "deadline."

If it's the dinners that I am thinking of, it does have to be paid and ordered for. The deli will hold it in their refrigerators for a short time. So Friday wouldn't be completely farfetched to get it. However this church lady was hoping to get both a free donation write off AND dinner.Echoing the other posters, I would contact the pastor and let them know you are out both the monies and dinner.

I am wondering if the receipt itself had the store deadline ("30 days" or some such) and the sister just looked at the official deadline, not whatever handwritten note from the donor that accompanied it. It's logical to assume the store is going to honor a sale withing THEIR deadline, not some third party's deadline.

And a lot of people eat turkey for Christmas too--I also wondered if sis figured she'd use it for the later holiday, rather than the one just a few days away that she likely already had food planned for, until she found TurkeyLady's handwritten note with "deadline."

If it's the dinners that I am thinking of, it does have to be paid and ordered for. The deli will hold it in their refrigerators for a short time. So Friday wouldn't be completely farfetched to get it. However this church lady was hoping to get both a free donation write off AND dinner.Echoing the other posters, I would contact the pastor and let them know you are out both the monies and dinner.

OK, that makes sense. I wasn't picturing it already made, but that the winner could call in and have it made to order, basically. If it's already made, then there probably was a store deadline. Maybe it even was really Thursday. But yeah, the lady was totally shady.

I am wondering if the receipt itself had the store deadline ("30 days" or some such) and the sister just looked at the official deadline, not whatever handwritten note from the donor that accompanied it. It's logical to assume the store is going to honor a sale withing THEIR deadline, not some third party's deadline.

And a lot of people eat turkey for Christmas too--I also wondered if sis figured she'd use it for the later holiday, rather than the one just a few days away that she likely already had food planned for, until she found TurkeyLady's handwritten note with "deadline."

According to OP she kind of assumed originally it would be the value of a Turkey Dinner. It sounds like when she did call she iasked or intended to ask if she could substitute a chicken dinner instead,

I am wondering if the receipt itself had the store deadline ("30 days" or some such) and the sister just looked at the official deadline, not whatever handwritten note from the donor that accompanied it. It's logical to assume the store is going to honor a sale withing THEIR deadline, not some third party's deadline.

And a lot of people eat turkey for Christmas too--I also wondered if sis figured she'd use it for the later holiday, rather than the one just a few days away that she likely already had food planned for, until she found TurkeyLady's handwritten note with "deadline."

If it's the dinners that I am thinking of, it does have to be paid and ordered for. The deli will hold it in their refrigerators for a short time. So Friday wouldn't be completely farfetched to get it. However this church lady was hoping to get both a free donation write off AND dinner.Echoing the other posters, I would contact the pastor and let them know you are out both the monies and dinner.

OK, that makes sense. I wasn't picturing it already made, but that the winner could call in and have it made to order, basically. If it's already made, then there probably was a store deadline. Maybe it even was really Thursday. But yeah, the lady was totally shady.

And the deadline isn't specifically locked till Thursday, I have seen it till Sunday. Honestly, the lady did it with that intention to begin with. You can buy the dinners with a gift card or a certificate, and then the winner calls it in whenever and that deadline is from November till December. (any holidays in those months) The lady went above and beyond to make it so specific and making it ordered and paid for, that it's suspect. And the deli manager's reaction to that shows how odd that was.

I am wondering if the receipt itself had the store deadline ("30 days" or some such) and the sister just looked at the official deadline, not whatever handwritten note from the donor that accompanied it. It's logical to assume the store is going to honor a sale withing THEIR deadline, not some third party's deadline.

And a lot of people eat turkey for Christmas too--I also wondered if sis figured she'd use it for the later holiday, rather than the one just a few days away that she likely already had food planned for, until she found TurkeyLady's handwritten note with "deadline."

If it's the dinners that I am thinking of, it does have to be paid and ordered for. The deli will hold it in their refrigerators for a short time. So Friday wouldn't be completely farfetched to get it. However this church lady was hoping to get both a free donation write off AND dinner.Echoing the other posters, I would contact the pastor and let them know you are out both the monies and dinner.

OK, that makes sense. I wasn't picturing it already made, but that the winner could call in and have it made to order, basically. If it's already made, then there probably was a store deadline. Maybe it even was really Thursday. But yeah, the lady was totally shady.

And the deadline isn't specifically locked till Thursday, I have seen it till Sunday. Honestly, the lady did it with that intention to begin with. You can buy the dinners with a gift card or a certificate, and then the winner calls it in whenever and that deadline is from November till December. (any holidays in those months) The lady went above and beyond to make it so specific and making it ordered and paid for, that it's suspect. And the deli manager's reaction to that shows how odd that was.

I agree totally, there was no reason for her to put such a tight deadline on it.

The deli wouldn't have hand-written an expiration date on the photocopied receipt. The deli manager himself said this is never done-a gift card is given to be used by the auction winner.

Turkey Lady needs to be called on the carpet for this. I think the donation aspect of this has clouded the issue. OP's sister needs to get her $50. returned. She did not make a "donation" she purchased a product from the church.

Bottom line is this: OP's sister paid the church $50. for a product she did not receive because of the [illegal, immoral] actions of another associated with the church. The church being the "middle man" for said transaction needs to step up and make this right. If they do not do this, I would never again purchase anything on an auction (or donate one penny) and would be looking for a different church.

She also didn't get it because she didn't try until after the deadline. The deadline was unusual and really soon after purchase, that is true, but whether it is normally done or not doesn't matter. It was done this time, it was there for her to see, she didn't act until after it passed. That is a factor.

She also didn't get it because she didn't try until after the deadline. The deadline was unusual and really soon after purchase, that is true, but whether it is normally done or not doesn't matter. It was done this time, it was there for her to see, she didn't act until after it passed. That is a factor.

But that was an artificial deadline created by the woman who purchased/stole the turkey dinner, the deli had nothing to do with it and if the dinner hadn't been stolen the sister would have been able to still get it.

If I were your sister, I would mentally accept that I failed to redeem my prize within the deadline made clear on what I had as a coupon. That is of course, only if I knew that the photocopy receipt would have been accepted by the store to get a turkey dinner had I gone in the time frame specified (yes, I get that it wasn't set by the store). I would then go to the church and explain what happened in a "hey I think you should know that when this was donated, it was done in this way and here is what happened" sort of mind frame. They should know that this donor went out of their way to set up the donation so that they could benefit if the buyer didn't come through in time so that they can either prevent such donations in the future or warn people that deadlines set on the items are not flexible.

I think this lady wanted to specifically gift a Thanksgiving Dinner, but realized for whatever reason that the gift card wouldn't guarantee that timeframe or that people may not pick up their actual prize. Seeing an opportunity to not be out $50 while still looking charitable, she decided to literally buy a turkey dinner and then take it for herself, if the person didn't show. I think that this was wrong, as the sister paid for it, but the missing of the deadline makes it murky, more so if the sister was aware of the deadline before the purchase (did she?). This isn't the store's fault, though I think their hinky meters should have been going off. It is the fault of the lady and perhaps the church if they did know what she was up to.

She also didn't get it because she didn't try until after the deadline. The deadline was unusual and really soon after purchase, that is true, but whether it is normally done or not doesn't matter. It was done this time, it was there for her to see, she didn't act until after it passed. That is a factor.

The deadline wasn't created by the store though--it was on a separate piece of paper in the donor's handwriting. It's possible that the copy of the receipt had a different deadline on it, or that it had no deadline on it, and that sis just didn't examine the handwritten note carefully because it was separate.

Sis does bear some responsibility for missing the deadline, but I don't think the store even knew the deadline existed, so I can't be too judgmental about that. I feel like the deadline-missing is sort of cancelled out by it being a phony deadline in the first place.

Regardless of the real or made-up deadline, the fact remains that according to the deli manager, the lady who bought (and apparently donated) the turkey dinner redeemed it herself when she clearly had no right to. And it appears that since she kept the receipt and only gave the winner (OP's sis) a photocopy, she had every intention of doing exactly this in anticipation of the winner either intentionally or unintentionally not picking up the dinner.

This is what needs to be brought to the attention of, at minimum, the organizer of the church auction.

And the organizer, if they want to do the right thing, should refund the money to the OP's sister and then take any further action regarding the purchaser/donor as deemed necessary, without further involving the OP's sister.